Cell phone ban passes for Calif. train operators
 

Wowsers!!!!

Cell phone ban passes for Calif. train operators

57 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? California regulators have issued a temporary ordering banning train operators from using cell phones while on duty.

The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously passed an emergency order Thursday to ban the use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices while operating a train. It comes less than a week after a Southern California commuter train ran head-on into a freight train, killing 25 people and injuring more than 130 others.

Federal authorities confirmed that on the day of the crash, the Metrolink train engineer was text-messaging on his cell phone while on duty. Authorities say he ran a red light and slammed into the freight train in Chatsworth on Friday.

because thats more dangerous than the people that do it driving....right...
trains are taken care...who wants to look at cars? Should we?

Talking on a cell phone while driving your car is already illegal in california as of this year.. You need a hands free device..

Texting is a loop hole in the law though...

You can't text or talk on your cell phone in Washington state. You need to be totally hands free.... however a cop can't pull you over for talking on your phone - you can only get a ticket if you are doing something else wrong and get caught talking on your phone... what's the point.

i see cops on their cellphone every single day.

What about Pilots?

The 1st of many pointless knee jerk reactions to come...

I once questioned a cop how they could speak in their radio while driving if you can't speak on the phone, then asked him to explain the difference to me as I could not understand it.... It did not really make him happy :1orglaugh

i read he was texting with two 14 year old girls...

It was actually 2 14 year old boys that were into trains.

Now it appears though that the engineer was gay, not that this has anything to do with the accident though.

I don't understand how in 2008 two trains can hit each other. Do we not have the technology to prevent this? They're on fucking tracks for christ sake.

as i have said in other threads, the same people who want to blame a text message, are the RailRoad companies who have FOUGHT PLACING THIS TECHNOLOGY on tracks for DECADES.

Reason? Same as underfunded levees in Louisiana, "costs too much."

we have that technology over here but its not 100% failsafe either - especially with diesel trains. most trains over here run on electric power and it gets cut off if they pass a red signal. no idea how it works with diesel locomotives

the train driver still should direct his attention to his job and not his private issues